New people on the AmCham Board of Directors
Michal Nebeský has been selected as the new President of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic. Nebesky, who is the Country Officer for Citibank, will replaces Dan Tok, who left to serve in the government. Nebeský has served as a Vice-President of the AmCham since 2014.
“The plan is continue our focus on improving the competitiveness of the country,” Nebeský said. “We lost some good people to government service, and we applaud their willingness to try to make government one of our competitive advantages. We are adding some good people who are going to improve our ability to identify management issues, policy solutions, and business opportunities.”
Nebeský will be joined on AmCham’s executive committee by Václav Novotný the Managing Director of MSD. Novotný has served on the AmCham’s board since 2013, and is the co-chair of its Health Care Task Force.
“For the past few years, we have been discussing the major issues facing health care at roundtables with the minister and other key players,” Novotný says. “Now, we want to move from discussion to action. We believe the way forward is to create a framework for policymaking based on measurable objectives. At the moment, policy is driven by cost. It needs to be driven by achieving the maximum quality per every crown spent. To us, an efficient health care system is a major factor in national competitiveness.”
The AmCham board will welcome three new members: Radek Kaskiewicz, the Managing Director of 3M; Michal Klimeš, the Managing Director of Silicon Graphics; and Biljana Weber, the Managing Director of Microsoft.
Weber will guide AmCham’s efforts to improve the quality of life- a vital component in attracting talent- in major towns and cities through smart technologies.
“Cities are a country’s major source of economic vitality,” Weber says. “We need to integrate city development strategies into the national strategy, and these strategies need to be centered on attracting the type of talent that create new cultural and business opportunities. To do this, cities not only need to be more “sexy”, but they have to function better.”
Klimeš’ portfolio will be to improve the promotion of Brno as a place to do business, and to strengthen co-operation between researchers and business.
“Brno is the equal to Prague now as a source of growth,” Klimes says. “To be competitive with Vienna and Berlin, the two cities need to have complementary strategies, not competing plans. Our success will likely be determined by whether we can turn the corridor running from Brno to Prague into a hub for value-added manufacturing based on products developed through local research.”
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